I've always purchaed tires for my MINI from the The Tire Rack, but I've decided to go with these Toyos, and it appears that they don't carry that brand. I was sort of bummed about that as I now need to look elsewhere...

I found the size that I want here, and for what seems to be a good price of $104: http://www.edgeracing.com/tire/1711/

Anyone ever done business with Edge Racing before? If you can recommend them, or not, please let me know... Thanks much!

 

I had to special order mine from a local Toyo reseller.

That seems like a pretty good price, I paid 250$ CDN per tire for 205/45/17


You will not be dissapointed my friend...

 

Yah, I've heard some good things alright. I'm going to check locally also. Shipping is 57 dollars (US), so it totals something like $473... That's still pretty good though. If anyone has experience with Edge, please share...

 

I got my Toyo T1R's that were mounted on my new MC a few weeks ago at Edge Racing. It was the third or fourth set of tires I've bought from Edge, and have never had any problems. I also get a lot of stuff at Tire Rack, but for brands they don't carry (like Toyo and Falken), I don't hesitate to use Edge.

-Keith

 

I've been looking for them as well...but in my runflat size (195/55R16), and cannot find them.

If you are interested in 205's or some more common size, then "Edge Racing" will probably have them. "Tire Savings" seems to also has some lower pricing as well. Have not purchased from either, but others here have and seem to have no problem with them from what I can tell.

Now if you are looking for the 195's like I am, I just got this response back from Toyo:
"That tire has been released to the general public and dealers can order it at this time. However, the tire is currently on a nation wide back order in that size. We are still taking orders for the tire at this time, so if a dealer calls and places an order on 245650 it is filled as tires come in. We currently do not have an exact date of when the tire will be available in open stock, however if your dealer calls in and places an order for it, his order desk person may be able to give him a time frame of when the order would be filled."

I am trying to work with tiresavings.com to get T1-R's in the 195 size now.

Lowell, BRG/Wht '03MC w/sport pkg, "left coast highway 1 go-cart".

 

Why dont you upgrade your size to a 205 or 215 series? Wider is bettah!

 

Mineon, thanks for the vote of confidence regarding Edge!

Anyone try finding 215 options for 16's? A quick search on The Tire Rack's drop-down menus reveals that there are very few to choose from...

I'm currentyly running with Yoko AVS ES100s (205/45 -16) and the tread width is wider than the tread width of MANY 215's out there. So, why pay more to get a heavier tire with less tread to the road?

Also, rolling diameter is a factor for me. At just over an inch smaller than the stock 16 fitment, the 205/45's effectively change the final drive, making the car more torquey.

Couple that with these T1r's being like 18 pounds, and my wheels at 10.75 lbs, I'm hooked on this combo!

 

ditto on that. I got a set of Toyo T1-S 205/50/16 on my X-lites

 

Tony,

Edge Racing is fantastic. I got mine from Edge just two weeks ago. I'll be posting a review in my thread on TMMZ, but anyways they grip reallly really well, run pretty quiet, and are quite light [20 lbs. for 215 45 17]. The price was awesome, and I got them on the day promised [aside from a 2 day delay b/c of Katrina]. You'll love the tires.

 

ingsoc, thanks for chiming-in as well. Lucky you are within the same state as Edge, which is nice. The total, including shipping, is like 473 bucks, and given what I've heard, I have no reservations about using them. I'm going to check a couple local shops as well, and if I can find them for about 120 or less, I'll go local most likely. If not, I'll give Edge my business... Thanks again!

 

[QUOTE=TonyB]Mineon,

"I'm currentyly running with Yoko AVS ES100s"

Just curious, would you buy another set of ES100's if the T1-R had not been produced? My tune-up shop loves them 2nd. to the T1-R's.

I got a set of "Yoko"-Avids for our minivan (agreed, different sort of vehicle, but same 2-lane twisties and road surfaces) when I moved up here 5 years ago, and they barely lasted 15K.

Finally, I would like to do business with Edge Racing and they really would like to help me if possible, but they could not see getting the 195's any time soon. Tire Savings (+$6/per tire over ER) had a line on 3 T1-R's and expected to see more soon. My hesitation with a wider tire (205,etc.) is "more" dirt and road crap thrown up on the sides & back of the car and maybe a little offsetting of my speedo.

Thanks,

Lowell, BRG/Wht '03MC w/sport pkg, "left coast highway 1 go-cart".

 

Can't say that I noticed much more dirt when I went with 205's, but I wouldn't be surprised if so. Either way, the back window and boot area needs cleaning every week or so even with stock size tires...

As as far as rolling diameter changing, in the whole scheme of things, it really is not that big of deal. Here's a post I made a week or so ago that addresses my feelings on this topic:

I have always found this to be an interesting topic... I have gone with a smaller rolling diameter, and will continue to do so with my next purchase later this week...

As Abbett says above, one should not go much smaller than stock, but then what is "stock" size? Here's a list from MINI2 that is quite helpful:

+-----------+-------------------+
| TIRE SIZE | DIAMETER |
+-----------+-------------------+
| 195/55-15 | 23.44in (595.5mm) |
| 205/40-17 | 23.46in (595.8mm) |
| 215/50-15 | 23.46in (596.0mm) |
| 215/45-16 | 23.62in (599.9mm) |
| 195/50-16 | 23.68in (601.4mm) |
| 185/60-15 | 23.74in (603.0mm) |
| 215/40-17 | 23.77in (603.8mm) |
| 205/55-15 | 23.88in (606.5mm) |
| 215/35-18 | 23.93in (607.7mm) |
| 175/65-15 | 23.96in (608.5mm) |
| 225/45-16 | 23.97in (608.9mm) |
| 205/50-16 | 24.07in (611.4mm) |
| 225/40-17 | 24.09in (611.8mm) |
| 225/35-18 | 24.20in (614.7mm) |
| 195/60-15 | 24.21in (615.0mm) |
| 205/45-17 | 24.26in (616.3mm) |
| 215/55-15 | 24.31in (617.5mm) |
| 195/55-16 | 24.44in (620.9mm) |
| 215/50-16 | 24.46in (621.4mm) |
| 185/65-15 | 24.47in (621.5mm) |
| 215/45-17 | 24.62in (625.3mm) |
+-----------+-------------------+

In orange are the stock sizes for the MINI. As one can see, the range is from less than 24", to nearly 24.5". I had stock 16's for the first 18 or so thousand miles, so I was on the high end. I have since gone with 205/45 - 16's, which are like 23.3". If one wishes to use 24" as stock size, then I was over that by .44", and now I'm under it by .7". It's really no biggie...

Some folks change for seasonal reasons also, and in the end, the odometer gets averaged-out quite well. And if one just stays smaller like myself, simply note the smaller tire size, and calculate the excess that was "added" to the odometer, assuming that this would be for resale purposes...

The speedo reads maybe a couple mph faster than actual, but then what stock fittment size is actual speed? I can barely see a difference in the speedo...

What I can tell is the increase in torqueiness, if that's a word . Dropping 4.5% in rolling diameter from the largest of the stock fittments makes a notworthy difference down low. Considering that I also added 10.75 lb wheels (Volk CE28N's) further enchanced the acceleration.

Some other benefits include natural lowering. An inch smaller rolling diameter equates to a .5" drop (half above & below the axle). And while these tires are turning a bit more than larger ones, and with that wearing faster, they are cheap! I can get Yoko AVS ES100's in this size for like 80 some dollars. I am thinking about trying Toyos in this size though just to experience something different, but even then, they can be had for just over 100 each. And at 18 pounds each (2 lbs less than the Yokos), that's the best type of loss to have - rotational, and at the extreme edge, as opposed to the inner wheel...

Just wanted to share my thoughts on this subject...